Using a Plate Chiller in a Jockey (Miracle) Box

[BeansBrew]

Hi Guys

I've been asked to supply a keg and dispensing equipment at a party this weekend. The beer is all organised but I'm stuck trying to think of the best way to dispense the beer. The beer will have been in my fridge for 36plus hours before the party, so we're dealing with a keg sitting at about 5 degrees.

I was thinking about making a Jockey (or Miracle) box. I have an esky, brumby style tap, shank, beer line (and obviously beer and CO2 with reg).

Now, instead of having an aluminium plate or Stainless Steel coil inside the jockey box, I was thinking about using my Blichmann Therminator and keeping the wort chiller on ice inside the esky and passing the beer through it.

Has anyone tried this before? Does it work? Or do the channels in the therminator agitate the beer, causing it to foam up?


If this is not a good idea has anyone got any other tips? If the beer is cold (and kept on ice during the party) is it really necessary to have a jockey box? or would multiple coils of regular plastic beer line in the ice do the trick in keeping the beer cold if the beer itself is already cold?

Cheers.

 

[HardEight]

I was at O'briens brewery in Ballarat yesterday and they were dispensing 2 of their beers through a plate chiller in a jockey box.. I had never seen it done like that before either...

 

[woodwormm]

if u wanted to get fancy you could get a pond pump and recirculate the icy bath water through the plate chiller too.

i think ur idea will work. especially if you insulate the keg a little .. ie brocolli foam boxes or yoga mats - a little goes a long way with keeping an already cold keg cold...

 

[Dan Pratt]

The most simple/costeffective way to keep it cold is to get a 20lt bucket from bunnings or where ever, remove keg from fridge, place it into the bucket, add 5kg of ice to bucket into the space betweeen the keg and bucket wall.

This will keep the bottom half of the keg ice cold and serving cold beer wont be a problem, you can always add more ice

For more idea's check out this link from northern brewer.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewingtv/ - watch episode 72 - summer beer serving techniques. :icon_chickcheers:

 

[BeansBrew]

thanks guys,

I ended up just drilling a hole in my wheelie bin, (cleaned and disinfected it first) and put the tap in the hole, put the keg and cylinder in the bin and filled with 30KG ice and put the 3M of beer line in the ice. poured a dream for 5 or 6 hours.